Another P990?

Remember the hype about the P990? Unless SE have really got their act back together with the foray into WM2006, I'd expect a dodgy v1 of the product. I've just taken out a new TYTN II on a 12-month contract, and I'd say that's just about right - I can't see the X1 being viable/cheap/reliable until this time next year.

And at the end of the day, it's still Windows Mobile. Which basically means if it's successful, they'll be able to cut all the dev teams that develop UIQ-supporting apps - like PC Sync, Third-party software, developer forums, UIQ itself, etc. With the poor uptake since after the P910i, they must be loss-making.

Say what you want about Microsoft, but at the end of the day, they're the ones with the persistence and deep pockets to prevail.

WM6

Just to venture out against the ones who love to hate MS - WM6 is a bloody excellent platform for mobile. The functionality is superb, with a huge amount hardly even been tapped into yet. However this is in the core of the platform, where most people just look at the UI.

The problem, as with Windows as a whole, is the user interface and rubbish applications. If SE change it so it's more fluid and user friendly then it could be a cracking phone. Shove on Opera and take out the Live bollocks too whilst your at it.

This is made by HTC...

So hopefully we won't see the same problems of the P series. I want this very, very much, only waiting for the confirmation that the camera has a macro mode before I start saving for it, even my girlfriend likes it a lot (still prefers her E61, but it is HER E61...).

It's just strange that a macro mode is still so rare in smartphones. I find it so useful to take a snap of a business card, serial number, IP adress, doc, price and feature list in a shop, etc...

@Steven Hewitt

Will Likely be new version of Windows Mobile

I quote a Microsoft sales rep when pushed by a senior member of staff at the Orange shop last week concerning Windows Mobile 7. "Can't talk about it". He eventually gave away a late second quarter planned release date and that there will be new models from different manufacturers to go with it. What's the betting this is one of them?

And NO I am not saying WM6 is brilliant or that WM7 will be a massive improvement before anyone siezes on the comments!

One step forward...

After being ecstatically happy with my P800 and P910i, I was gutted by the flakiness of my P990 and swore I'd never touch another SE smartphone again. At least SE seem to have got the message that a smartphone needs an effin huge screen, the recent P-series screens just got smaller and smaller.

I'm concerned about them taking the Windows Mobile route - if it's that good, why the need for an additional UI on top of it? And I assume most operators will further customise that. And how well will it interoperate with my linux PC? MS does have a reputation for not playing nice. I wonder if it will dual boot?

Honestly guys!

I don't know how anyone on this planet can compare symbian with windows mobile!?? It's like comparing a fiat with a porsche.. Previously I used symbian devices but switched to windows mobile with the introduction of qtek's first devices. Recently I bought a symbian device again, I needed a new didgital camera and the nokia n95 seemed good enough. However the limitations of the os drives me nuts!! I can't believe what the symbian guys are doing! They are digging their own grave..

Have you tried a WM phone??

all these people knocking WM and praising Sybian, most noticably the nokias... ive never come across such a limited, child friendly operating system as found on the N95 not to mention the general flakyness of it! just about everyone I know that has an N series has issues with it... and if you have an alpine car radio, nokias take on the hands free standard means that it wont connect...

give me WM I plug it into a windows PC and it syncs, beautiflully, every time...

It runs low on battery, i plug it into a mini USB cable - a standard one... not some magic nokia contraption!

the whole WM interface works very well, phone numbers apear after starting to type either a number or name, everything just works!! :)

This SE phone hopefully will be out as my contract draws to a close in july!!! :) I want one!!! 800x480 screen! thank you very much!

I like the Sony Ericsson P1, doubts about WinCE

I liked the form factor of the M600, had the W950 which was ok-ish but had stupid mistakes in the UI (try ending a call if you just looked up something), but the Sony Ericsson P1 is quite an OK phone.

When I was looking for a smart phone it was a toss up between the next gen Communicator and the Sony, and my experience with the Sony camera quality (plus the incredibly handy business card scanner/OCR) made the P1 the choice even though the keyboard is not as good.

If this new phone had Symbian + UIQ so I could use the programs like TomTom and Handy Safe on it it would have been interesting, I've had Windows Mobile long enough to dislike it intensely and I have some friends who have added whole dictionaries of swearwords to their vocabulary just to comment on it.

Form Factor

Ergonimcs is what counts not just the underlying OS. Symbian and WM are both powerful and mature mobile OSs. SE and Nokia are good at form factors. SE's Xperia is about SE branding and they don't need to stick to WM for this. A great set of ergonomics will sell devices.

However, WM is important for the US market, so hopefully SE has done what Nokia has not yet which is exploit the massive Smartphone market in the US.